God Be With You Till We Meet Again

We just got back from St. George, UT.  My Grandpa Scott quietly passed away last week and returned home to his sweetheart who passed away 5 years ago.  Grandpa was my last living grandparent and we felt so fortunate to be able to go.  We missed all of the other grandparent funerals on both sides of our family, so this was a big deal to us.

My Grandpa was a great man.  He was smart, funny, patient, and wonderful.  He was an electrical engineer and his mind was always working.  Once Wally became a part of the family, there was a special bond between the two of them.  Grandpa finally had someone to talk science to and Wally had someone who understood his jargon.  We joke a lot about how I was replaced by Wally as the official grandchild. 

When we moved to the east, back to the west, and then to the midwest, Grandpa always told us that we needed stay west of Denver.  We made it, just in time.  We didn't get to spend a lot of time with Grandpa before he died.  The last time we saw him was about 4 1/2 years ago, when we moved from Pennsylvania to Washington.  My two youngest children never met him.

It was so great to listen to my aunt and uncle talk about his life and all the funny stories about him.  Senator Orrin Hatch (my great-uncle) was also able to attend and said some very nice things as well.  Grandpa wanted me to play the organ at his funeral, and all the great-grandchildren sang I Am a Child of God.  The services were great.

I am going to miss my Grandpa.  We always loved to visit him when we could.  I know that he is so happy right now, reunited with my Grandma.  I'm so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and know that we will see him again some day.

No good-bye's from us.

Only see you later's.

Meet the New Mexicans!

The view from the front of our house

We made it!  We have spent the last couple of weeks putting our house together, getting kids used to a new school, Wally starting a new job, and figuring out life in the Southwest.  So far, it's been pretty good.  The weather here has been great (considering we left Chicago when it was freezing!).  Brandon couldn't believe that it could be 50* in January!  He keeps telling us that he doesn't have to wear a coat anymore because "we live in the desert now!".  Caleb keeps asking me where all the grass is here.  Isaac decided that he was going to protest the move by deciding not to sleep anymore, especially at night.  Kelsie has become more technically savvy and has used our move as an excuse to be on the computer more to chat with her friends that she misses so much.

They all seem to love the new house, especially the laundry chute!  They were a little disappointed, however, when they learned that it wasn't going to be as easy to rappel as they had hoped.  It's still fun to throw things down though!  And don't even get me started about the garage!  It's something I've been looking forward to for a really long time.  There's something magical about the garage door opener and kids.  I think we've suddenly entered the hi-tec age just with that!  It's nice and sunny here.  All. The. Time.  We're getting used to to it again after living through 3 gray Chicago winters!  We have a lot of windows in our house which means a lot of sun coming through them. Sometimes a little too much sun coming in.

Wally - who has always biked to and from work wherever we have lived - now has a 9 mile one-way commute to work (uphill, both ways!). It's taking him twice as long to get to and from work and factoring in the altitude difference, he's pretty tired by the time he gets home.  I keep thinking about how awesome he's going to look after a couple weeks of biking everyday (now if I could get myself up and moving too!).  ;)

Life is starting to feel normal again with most major things unpacked, the kids back in school, and Wally at work.  We miss our old life and friends back in Chicago, but are excited for our new life here!

The view from the back of our house

Don't Stop Believin'!

We're doing it again.  That thing we like to call moving.  Wally accepted a great job and opportunity for our family.  We will be moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico just before Christmas for Wally to begin a position at Sandia National Laboratories beginning just after the new year.  We're excited to spend Christmas with family in Denver this year and then will continue to Albuquerque.  You'd think that we would have learned from our last move that this time of year isn't ideal, but at least we're moving south this time.

The Funny Farm

Mom's out of town. That always makes us a little crazy...

Chub-A-Lub

 Things aren't slowing down at all here, but I wanted to post this picture before I forget.  

I just love him!

Wagner Farm

I am trying really hard to not let things get by without updating the blog, but it seems that my life is getting more and more busy.  I'm sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that we have a baby whose growing waaaaay to fast along with the rest of our kids and life doesn't ever seem to slow down.  At. All.

The beginning of October, I took Caleb and Isaac to Wagner Farm.  I can't believe that we hadn't been there before.  Caleb loved looking at all the animals.  He would run from one thing to the next.  Isaac is such a good baby and is so content to let me push him around in the stroller everywhere I go.  It was a beautiful, warm day and all the animals were out.  It's not a big farm, so it didn't take us very long to see all there was to see and do all there was to do, but it was a great way to spend a morning together. 

In the Zone...

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